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State agents working secretly in NEPA make 50 drug-related arrests, seize huge haul of drugs

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Breaking down Penn State’s initial depth chart ahead of the opener

<p>WILKES-BARRE TWP. &#8212; Cindy Lou Ashton and Anthony Shaw met on a dating website about a year before he fatally stabbed her multiple times in the throat, a township police detective testified Tuesday.</p><p>With their relationship being estranged, Shaw, 42, of East Orange, N.J., traveled to Ashton&#8217;s Nicholson Street apartment May 1 to discuss their future, Det. Michael Anditis testified during Shaw&#8217;s preliminary hearing before District Judge Michael Dotzel.</p><p>The next day, May 2, Ashton&#8217;s body was found in a pool of blood when police went to the apartment after her co-workers became concerned when she failed to show for work at Mondelez Industries.</p><p>Detectives also found key evidence allegedly linking Shaw to the homicide.</p><p>Luzerne County Det. James Noone said Ashton&#8217;s blood was found on a Gerber folding knife recovered from Shaw&#8217;s apartment.</p><p>After nearly two hours of testimony, Dotzel determined assistant district attorneys Brian Coleman, Jill Sosnoski and David Marsh established a case against Shaw, sending an open count of criminal homicide to county court.</p><p>Shaw remains jailed without bail.</p><p>Shaw mostly kept his head down during the proceeding.</p><p>Anditis testified police Sgt. Thomas Elick responded to Ashton&#8217;s apartment in the afternoon of May 2 to conduct a welfare check when she didn&#8217;t appear for work. Elick was let inside the apartment by Ashton&#8217;s uncle, Tracy Ashton, and discovered her body in a bathroom.</p><p>Anditis said the investigation quickly centered on Shaw, who visited Ashton, 39, on May 1. Ashton was last seen alive by a friend who left her apartment at about 7 p.m. when Shaw walked inside, Anditis said.</p><p>Anditis said Ashton and Shaw met via the Internet about a year before she was killed.</p><p>Detectives learned from East Orange, N.J., police that Shaw was hospitalized at Rutgers University Hospital after a failed suicide attempt May 3.</p><p>Anditis said a note found in Shaw&#8217;s apartment apologized to Ashton&#8217;s family.</p><p>Anditis and Noone testified that a blood-soaked Kmart receipt and a receipt from a White Haven gas station were found in Shaw&#8217;s vehicle and apartment, which led detectives to surveillance cameras at those businesses.</p><p>Anditis said Kmart security cameras recorded Shaw purchasing a Gerber folding knife and a pack of socks, leaving the store near Ashton&#8217;s apartment at 6:44 p.m. May 1.</p><p>Shaw didn&#8217;t have any bandages on one of his hands when he was recorded in Kmart, but he had bandages on a hand at the service station in White Haven at 8 a.m., Anditis said.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Homicide suspect Anthony Shaw arrives at District Judge Michael Dotzel&#8217;s office in Wilkes-Barre Township for a preliminary hearing on charges he killed Cindy Lou Ashton in May. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/web1_TTL082918Shaw1-2.jpg</photo0><caption0>Homicide suspect Anthony Shaw arrives at District Judge Michael Dotzel&#8217;s office in Wilkes-Barre Township for a preliminary hearing on charges he killed Cindy Lou Ashton in May. </caption0><photoCredit0>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Ed Lewis</p><p>elewis@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div>

Detective: Stabbing victim Cindy Ashton’s blood found on knife